CC Balance Transfers

Haket

Lets say I have 2 credit cards, A and B.

Both have 1k balances and wont be paid for a couple of months at least.

Can I transfer balance A to card B, and Balance B to card A and avail of 0% interest offered on both cards ?.

Haket

Bump, Anyone ???

Spocker

Don't think so. AFAIK the balance transfer from one CC to another can only be done when applying for the card. If you have the card already then all you are doing is withdrawing cash from one card to pay the other - I'd check to see whether the 0% applies to cash withdrawals - if it does then you're laughing....

Haket

You can (with AIB and MBNA at least) transfer balances at any time. AIB does a 0% rate while MBNA is 3-9% depending on their offers.

Spocker

Didn't know about the balance transfers at any time - handy info for next time.

So how would the balance transfers work. Assuming it takes a couple of working days to travel from one card to the other, the balances *should* pass each other on the way to the other card.

Does the 0/3/6/whatever% apply for x months from the date of the transfer?

Haket

I't takes up to 10 days for MBNA anyway, dunno how it works really, esp the 0% transfers, how does the bank make money on that ???.

The rates and times vary according to the offer. Best I've seen is 0% on the lifetime of the original balance (AIB I think but that was for a new card and seems to be gone now) , but usually its 6months.

Spocker

Haket wrote:

how does the bank make money on that ???.

They don't - they just shaft you with a savage interest rate (read the small print!) after the grace period is up.

Another alternative (if you've got the salary for it) is to "upgrade" your card. I switched from a regular AIB card to a gold card and got the cheaper rate - no 0% on transfers though - because I was an existing customer I presume (or maybe because I didn't ask... )

rubberduckey

Hi Haket, I'm currently moving two credit card balances(MBNA & AIB) to Ulster banks Zinc card. there is a 6 month interest free offer on this card for balance transfers. Would this benefit your situation??

0utshined

Haket wrote:

I't takes up to 10 days for MBNA anyway, dunno how it works really, esp the 0% transfers, how does the bank make money on that ???.

The rates and times vary according to the offer. Best I've seen is 0% on the lifetime of the original balance (AIB I think but that was for a new card and seems to be gone now) , but usually its 6months.

In general they don't IFF you don't spend anything else on the card and pay it off in full after or slightly before the introductary rate changes.

What makes it a worthwhile offer for them is that most people won't bother changing card again after 6 months or paying the balance off in full after that time so you're left with a large balance at the not-so-friendly regular rate.

Another catch on some cards is that any payments made go off the transfer balance first so if you make a purchase for say €25 and transfer €25 to your card, the money you've transfered will go against €25 of the transfer balance (@ 0%) and you will have interest accruing (@ X%).

To answer your original question though, It may be possible but I doubt it'd work out as you want it due to timing issues which are out of your control. It would be preferable to have a third card C and transfer both to this but then you'd have an extra €40 GSD so you'd want to be saving more interest than this.

0utshined

Dr. Spock wrote:

Another alternative (if you've got the salary for it) is to "upgrade" your card. I switched from a regular AIB card to a gold card and got the cheaper rate - no 0% on transfers though - because I was an existing customer I presume (or maybe because I didn't ask... )

IIRC most companies won't give you the transfer rate if you're transferring from one of their products to another, e.g. from a Ryanair card to an MBNA card or in your case an AIB standard card to a Gold card.